


Serpentish

by RuthlesslyEfficient



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Betty gets more comfortable with the Serpents, Betty sort of is too, F/M, Gangs, Jughead's in a gang, The Serpents, gang rules, he's in a gang everybody, why is everyone OK with the fact that Jughead's in a gang?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 01:53:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15786534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuthlesslyEfficient/pseuds/RuthlesslyEfficient
Summary: Betty notices it after the Serpents transfer to Riverdale High. They're being nice to her. Like, out-of-their-way nice.





	Serpentish

Betty noticed it after the Serpents transferred to Riverdale High.

It started with Fangs holding the door open for her, watching her with intense eyes. She thanked him and then went off on her way. It didn't occur to her until 10 minutes later that she had never seen a Serpent do anything polite for anyone.

\---

A few days later, Betty felt a push from behind in the hallway, the fault of a manic freshman obviously late to something, and her books and papers went flying all over the floor. She barely had time to say, "hey!" before another boy who Betty didn't know but recognized as a Serpent even without his jacket grabbed the freshman by his backpack, bringing him to a sudden halt.

"You knocked into the lady. Good manners is to apologize," the Serpent boy, perhaps a year older than Betty, hissed a the hapless freshman.

The kid, obviously terrified, squeaked an apology at Betty. She nodded in acceptance, still too surprised by the interference to say anything.

"A gentleman would help her pick up her stuff," the Serpent boy told the freshman, his tone clearly making it an order rather than a suggestion.

The kid knelt quickly, as did the Serpent. Between the three of them, Betty's geometry homework and notes were soon back in her arms. The freshman looked nervously at the Serpent, who jerked his head to the side in a universal "get outta here" gesture. The kid was gone in a second, and as Betty watched him round a corner, she realized the Serpent boy had slipped away into the bustle of the hall just as quickly.

\---

A week later, she was trying to head home after school but the station wagon wouldn't start. With her dad not living at the house and Betty dealing with, well, everything, it hadn't been getting the attention it was used to. She gave an ugh, pulled the lever to pop the hood and climbed out of the driver's seat. She spotted the problem immediately. She just needed to tighten a few bolts and that would get her home, and then she could really get into it. She actually felt pleased at the thought of the work: It would be something to get her mind off things for a little while.

She went to the back of the station wagon but the wrench set that belonged there was gone. Damn. She'd taken it out before the drag race and forgotten to put it back in its place.

She went back to the front of the car, peeking to see if there was a way she could pull this off without her wrenches. No. There wasn't. She was going to have to call her mother. Yippee.

Just as she was reaching into her coat pocket for her phone, Sweet Pea appeared next to her, looking down at the engine.

"Trouble?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "And me without my wrenches."

She glanced up at him as he eyed the engine, her gaze getting caught, as usual, on the serpent tattoo in his neck. He looked a little like Jughead, she'd always thought, but sadder. Or no, maybe not sadder. Angrier?

Meaner.

"I got one that'll work," he offered.

Her eyebrows shot up.

"You do?"

"Always keep a couple on my bike. Wait here."

She did and in a moment he was back with the promised wrench. He handed it to her rather than reaching to do it himself, which Betty appreciated. Without being asked, he steadied a couple of parts while she worked.

A few minutes later, when she was done, she handed the wrench back to him with a thank you. He didn't say you're welcome. He just walked away.

Betty got back in the car, so caught up in her puzzling that she barely even thought to feel satisfied when it fired up.

\----

Three days later, Jake approached her before school as she stood at her locker, putting her coat away and gathering the things she needed for first period. He leaned against the locker next to hers, shifting his backpack higher on his letterman jacket-covered shoulder.

"Hey, Betty," he said.

"What's up, Jake?" she greeted. She didn't really know him that well, other than to know he wasn't in the jocks' skeevy logbook and they'd been partners a couple of times in chemistry.

"I was out sick last week. I was wondering if I could borrow your chemistry notes to catch up?"

"Oh, sure," she said. "Let me find them…" She shifted a few things around in her locker and then pulled out her green folder. (Green is science. Red is math. Purple is English. Blue is stuff for the Blue and Gold.) She looked at her notes, all carefully dated, and handed him a few pages. "Here you go."

"Thanks," he said, barely glancing down at the neat handwriting. "Maybe we could go over them together after school today? Like maybe at Pop's? I'll buy the milkshakes." He gave her an award-winning smile, tinged with just enough nervousness to make it clear he was asking her on a date.

Betty was so taken aback that he was asking her out that she didn't see Toni until she was suddenly right next to her.

"Sorry, buddy. Betty has plans with me after school," she said shortly.

It was an obvious lie, which Jake clearly caught. But he knew what Toni was. He didn't seem overly scared, not like the freshman from a couple weeks ago, but his shoulders tensed and his eyes swept the hallway around them, looking for more Serpents. Then he glanced at Betty. When she didn't correct Toni, she could sense the moment he called it a loss.

"No problem," he said breezily. "I'll give these back to you in class tomorrow, then, yeah?"

She nodded. He shot a final look at Toni, who was glaring at him, and then left.

Betty turned to Toni.

"OK, what is going on here?" she demanded. "Did Jughead put you guys up to this?"

"What?" Toni said.

"You're running interference on other guys? What, Jughead said he doesn't want to be with me but he's using you all to keep other guys away?"

Toni rolled her eyes, and grabbed Betty's wrist, barely giving her time to slam her locker closed before hauling her away to a rarely-used side corridor.

"Jughead's not the type for that, sister," Toni said. "You know that."

"Then what?" Betty demanded. "Sweet Pea loaned me a wrench, Toni. A wrench for his _bike_. Why are all these Serpents practically bending over backward to help me?"

"Betty… We're helping you because you are a Serpent."

Betty felt rather as though she'd been punched in the stomach.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, Serpent-adjacent," Toni said with a smirk. "You did the Serpent dance. Plus you're Jughead's girl."

"I am not Jughead's girl," Betty said, the corrected herself. "Well, I mean, I am, but he broke up with me."

Toni raised an eyebrow. "Just because he's acting like a jackass right now doesn't mean he suddenly doesn't love you. As long as that's painfully obvious to anyone who sees him look at you, you're protected. And Jughead's Serpent royalty - you know that. No way anyone risks offending him by not being nice to you. So congrats, you're in."

Betty opened and closed her mouth a few times before she heard mother's voice in her head saying, "You look like a fish, Elizabeth," and then snapped it shut.

"I'm a Serpent. Ish," she finally said, testing it out.

"You're a Serpentish," Toni agreed.

Well. Her mother was going to be thrilled about this.

-The End-


End file.
